Stanford men lose at Pac-12 tournament

LAS VEGAS -- For Stanford, the wait for Selection Sunday should not include doubts about its inclusion in the NCAA tournament. The Cardinal seems safely in the 68-team field for the first time in six years, even after an 84-59 loss to UCLA on Friday night.

But at least two questions arose from the one-sided defeat in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals at the MGM Garden Arena:

How much will the Cardinal's NCAA tournament seeding be impacted?

Can Stanford quickly regain the form it showed the night before in a 19-point rout of Arizona State?

Stanford (21-12), which essentially clinched its spot in the NCAA field with its win over ASU late Thursday night, brought little of the same tenacity and aggressiveness one night later.

"We didn't show up," senior Josh Huestis said. "It was just a matter of them coming out and wanting it more than us."

The second-seeded Bruins (25-8), who will face No. 1 Arizona (30-3) in Saturday's championship game, forged leads of 14-2, 24-5 and 41-21 on the way to a 44-29 halftime advantage.

"They came out and punched us right away and knocked us back," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We tried to rally, but they got a lot of momentum on those first buckets.

"Very disappointing."

Led by 6-foot-9 point guard Kyle Anderson, the Bruins were calm and decisive. Anderson had 11 points, six assists and five assists and Travis Wear made all six of his shots -- just in the first half.

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Stanford crept within 13 points in the opening moments of the second half before UCLA ran off 12 points for a 56-31 lead with 15:29 left.

It got no closer than 21 the rest of the way.

Projected by ESPN as a No. 9 NCAA seed on Friday, Stanford could easily slide to a No. 10, which might prompt an intriguing scenario. It wouldn't be beyond the NCAA selection committee to place Stanford at the same site as (presumed No. 2 seed) Duke, which could pit Dawkins against coaching mentor Mike Krzyzewski in a second-round game.

But first, Stanford would have to play well enough to get there.

"It's going to be a matter of us getting together and figuring out what the difference was between last night and tonight," Huestis said. "I know if we find out, we'll be ready for whoever we play next."

The Cardinal, hoping to assemble its first four-game win streak since November, never was in the game against the Bruins.

Stanford was careless early and played with little urgency until the outcome was settled.

"We should hate this feeling," Dawkins said. "We shouldn't want to feel this way again. If we use that going forward, I think we become a better basketball team."

Anderson finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Travis Wear never did miss a shot, hitting all eight for 16 points. Norman Powell led the Bruins with 22, many of them on fastbreak layups.

UCLA shot 65.2 percent for the game.

Dwight Powell led Stanford with 16 points and Chasson Randle, who had topped 20 in four straight games, had 11.

The game could not have started worse for the Cardinal.

Stanford scored just two points on its first seven possessions, shooting 1 for 4 with three turnovers.

UCLA took advantage by jumping to a 14-2 lead, which prompted Dawkins to make a hockey-style lineup change with 16:10 left in the half. He sent Robbie Lemons, John Gage, Grant Verhoeven and Marcus Allen into the game to join lone surviving starter Randle.

Gage delivered, sinking a 3-pointer on the first trip down the floor after the subs went in. But the Bruins answered with two baskets to chase the reserves from the floor, and the onslaught continued.

Three more UCLA baskets and it was 24-5 after a tipin by Anderson with 12:10 left. To that point, the Bruins had failed to convert only two of 13 possessions for points.

In the other semifinal, Arizona rolled past Colorado 63-43.

The top-seeded Wildcats (30-3) started slow, but shot 60 percent in the second half and held Colorado to 5-of-22 shooting in the final 20 minutes.